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Formula 1 2024


Anton Chigurh

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I don't really either. Mercedes and Red Bull are the two best teams, bar none. He knows he has a handful of years left and Ferrari has not shown they can be in a position to win right now.

Further, you'd think for marketing purposes, Hamilton would be set for life at Merc even after retirement. You've got to think there would be nothing they wouldn't do to ensure he is always in a Mercedes hat, whether that be financial or anything else he wants. 

Maybe there is a bunch of behind the scenes drama/friction at Merc that the public doesn't know about? 

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30 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

 

i, for one, can't wait to see him get royally fucked day in and day out with race strategy, who goes first out of the pits, who drives the A car vs the B car, etc.

beautiful happy endings GIF

i respect the hell out of Lewis outside the track, but the guy is a megabitch and has been catered to almost exclusively for 15+ years - because he is incredible. i don't see a universe where this goes well for him or he keeps his mouth shut all year or MB doesn't fuck him over for George.

this is going to be great.

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39 minutes ago, blacklab said:

As big of a bitch he was about mercedes race strategy, his head may explode after Ferrari fucks him out of a few podiums after dumb decisions.

 

24 minutes ago, NoName said:

i, for one, can't wait to see him get royally fucked day in and day out with race strategy, who goes first out of the pits, who drives the A car vs the B car, etc.

beautiful happy endings GIF

i respect the hell out of Lewis outside the track, but the guy is a megabitch and has been catered to almost exclusively for 15+ years - because he is incredible. i don't see a universe where this goes well for him or he keeps his mouth shut all year or MB doesn't fuck him over for George.

this is going to be great.

Should be great drama. Can't wait.
Dog Smile GIF

Honestly, I'd think LH would see that coming a mile away and likely has some sort of deal to bring along people he trusts... right? Right? Bono in red?!
 

 

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1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Must be a shit load of cash Merc not willing to match. 

I can't/won't believe that Merc wouldn't match any dollar amount. Hamilton is arguably the GOAT in F1. You've got to want to see a Merc hat on his head for any price.

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So what’s next for Saenz?  Is there just a driver swap and he goes to Mercedes?  One of Ferrari’s big sponsors, that’s closely affiliated with Saenz, just left for McLaren but they are currently in good shape driver-wise. I’ve seen Sauber/Audi and Aston Martin mentioned as real possibilities. 

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27 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

So what’s next for Saenz?  Is there just a driver swap and he goes to Mercedes?  One of Ferrari’s big sponsors, that’s closely affiliated with Saenz, just left for McLaren but they are currently in good shape driver-wise. I’ve seen Sauber/Audi and Aston Martin mentioned as real possibilities. 

That's what I want to know. What about Red Bull for Perez? Although I saw somewhere that Sainz/Verstappen didn't have the best relationship when they were teammates.

He'd win a lot more races at Red Bull but obviously be clear #2.

Mercedes would be interesting.

Sauber/Audi seems like a big risk. He'd be #1 but their car sucks at the moment, no chance of winning races.

Aston Martin would be cool if they could ditch Stroll but that'll never happen because pops owns the team.

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3 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

I don't really either. Mercedes and Red Bull are the two best teams, bar none. He knows he has a handful of years left and Ferrari has not shown they can be in a position to win right now.

...

Maybe there is a bunch of behind the scenes drama/friction at Merc that the public doesn't know about? 

I believe it. The way things have been going at Merc + all the stories/rumors already about Lewis talking to Ferrari had me thinking Lewis would either retire after his current contract or go Red. I really thought it would be the former though.

So who replaces Lewis? Albon? How long is Piastri locked up? Where does Sainz land? I do remember thinking at the time that this New Year's Eve photo was interesting. There are also rumors of a Hamilton/Sainz straight swap for 2024.

Fernando-Alonso-George-Russell-Carmen-Mu

Edited by wood
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1 hour ago, NoName said:

i, for one, can't wait to see him get royally fucked day in and day out with race strategy, who goes first out of the pits, who drives the A car vs the B car, etc.

beautiful happy endings GIF

i respect the hell out of Lewis outside the track, but the guy is a megabitch and has been catered to almost exclusively for 15+ years - because he is incredible. i don't see a universe where this goes well for him or he keeps his mouth shut all year or MB doesn't fuck him over for George.

this is going to be great.

Heh ... it's an interesting point. That really is Charles's team.

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Yeah, this seems odd to say the least.  Between "we are now going with Plan E. Plan E", "we are checking," and "question," Hamilton's head is going to explode.  The only way this makes sense is if he's taking Bono and the Merc strategy team with him. Maybe he always wanted to driver for Ferrari at some point in his career. Otherwise... yeah, this seems like the boldest of bold strategies, Cotton.  

 

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23 minutes ago, G650 said:

I have to say, for the life of me, I can't see any upside to anyone in this

17 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Just makes no sense, at all. 

Same here. Ferrari has 99 problems and a driver ain't one.  The drivers haven't been the problem there for decades. I assume they spent a lot of money for Lewis that they could be putting into getting the car right.

Quote

Maybe he always wanted to driver for Ferrari at some point in his career. 

I think he has. There's certainly been a lot of flirtation over the years.

Edited by wood
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Maybe it's a combination of things.  Maybe Lewis really has wanted to drive for Ferrari and he knows his years are numbered. Maybe Toto is trying to create a clean succession for new drivers when Lewis moves on and, potentially, when Toto himself moves on from direct involvement as the Team Principle.  Perhaps this is actually giving us a glimpse into the timing of moves and the future of Merc in general?

Just throwing stuff at the wall...

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Rumor is a high-ranking Merc engineer, who like Lewis disagreed with the direction the team took with the 22 & 23 car, recently moved to Maranello.

https://racingnews365.com/key-factor-behind-hamiltons-mercedes-f1-exit-revealed?utm_source=x&utm_campaign=key-factor-behind-ha&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_content=12513405

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Am I the only one wondering whether it's just a coincidence that the Hamilton to Ferrari story was published so soon after the Andretti rejection, to divert attention away from Liberty's fuckery?

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2 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

 

Should be great drama. Can't wait.
Dog Smile GIF

Honestly, I'd think LH would see that coming a mile away and likely has some sort of deal to bring along people he trusts... right? Right? Bono in red?!
 

 

why would they go out of their way to do anything extra for him when they know, a full season ahead of time, that he's out.

assuming we see a George extension announced soon, and they make him the #1 driver when it comes to feedback, who gets the new parts, etc - let Lewis bitch, he is literally announcing a year ahead of time he's leaving. what he did for MB in the past doesn't help you moving forward.

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5 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

What is even the point of announcing this a year ahead of time? 

that shit got leaked for sure then they had to announce to get out front of it.

edit: they still haven't announced it lol

article from racing news 365 (if that's a good pub? idk)

Key factor behind Hamilton’s Mercedes F1 exit revealed

https://racingnews365.com/key-factor-behind-hamiltons-mercedes-f1-exit-revealed?utm_source=x&utm_campaign=key-factor-behind-ha&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_content=12513405

Quote

Following increased speculation that Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari will be announced imminently, further details as to why the decision has been made have emerged.

RacingNews365 has gathered information from trusted technical sources which indicate that Loic Serra’s departure has played a key role in Hamilton’s decision.

Serra was the Head of Vehicle Performance at Mercedes before being poached by Ferrari for the 2025 campaign.

RacingNews365 understands that Serra was at odds with the Mercedes technical staff headed by Mike Elliott.

Serra considered the W13 and W14 projects to be following the wrong direction due to a very long wheelbase and floor.

It now seems that both Serra and Hamilton were aligned with their concerns about the 2022-spec car, which was built under revised technical regulations.

"Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car," Hamilton said during the 2023 season. "I've driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn't need.

"And I think it's really about accountability, it's about owning up and saying 'yeah, you know what, we didn't listen to you, it's not where it needs to be and we've got to work’.”

It is worth contextualising the moment when Serra accepted the Maranello offer - the reshuffle with the return of James Allison to the Technical Director position came after Serra had made his mind up to leave.

Serra was already out of the picture but Allison wished to have him alongside the team due to the important role he held in the pre-2022 successes.

Serra’s move to Ferrari will also see him arrive with a group of technicians who have been unavailable to Allison for months.

Despite the concerns, Allison penned a long-term deal with Mercedes alongside Team Principal Toto Wolff to spearhead the recovery towards the front of the F1 field.

The W15, which Mercedes hopes will be a more consistent front-runner, is said to be more balanced and predictable - but not a rocket.

While it has secured the futures of Wolff and Alisson, it seems Mercedes will be forced to move forward without Hamilton in its arsenal.

 

betting Lewis continues to act like a huge bitch and how he "knew" the teams direction was shit and how he "knew" how to fix it and how he "knew" what should be done. this is the start of those leaks "he's following the guy who agreed with him who also knew what was wrong"

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31 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

Didn’t Lewis drive for the Team Principal at Ferrari when they were at McLaren? That plus all the money in Italy - makes it pretty easy to leave.

He also drove for Toto... and won six WDCs. Seems like that would have a bigger influence.

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41 minutes ago, NoName said:

that shit got leaked for sure then they had to announce to get out front of it.

edit: they still haven't announced it lol

article from racing news 365 (if that's a good pub? idk)

Key factor behind Hamilton’s Mercedes F1 exit revealed

https://racingnews365.com/key-factor-behind-hamiltons-mercedes-f1-exit-revealed?utm_source=x&utm_campaign=key-factor-behind-ha&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_content=12513405

betting Lewis continues to act like a huge bitch and how he "knew" the teams direction was shit and how he "knew" how to fix it and how he "knew" what should be done. this is the start of those leaks "he's following the guy who agreed with him who also knew what was wrong"

They announced it. And yeah, the whole "I knew how to fix the car" thing is pretty hilarious.

 

Edited by wood
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1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

What is even the point of announcing this a year ahead of time? 

They weren't going to announce it. It was leaked (conveniently to distract from yesterday's news imho) and everyone scrambled to react and announce it.

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I find it hilarious how some drivers are just above others and everyone knows it. Oh, Hamilton wants to drive the red car? GTFO Sainz.

Sas GIF by Channel 7

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4 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

So what’s next for Saenz?  Is there just a driver swap and he goes to Mercedes?  One of Ferrari’s big sponsors, that’s closely affiliated with Saenz, just left for McLaren but they are currently in good shape driver-wise. I’ve seen Sauber/Audi and Aston Martin mentioned as real possibilities. 

Piastri to MB, Saenz back to McLAren.

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1 hour ago, Goofyboy said:

Merc just announced on their Instagram. Hamilton will trigger his release option. I’m guessing he’s not impressed with this years bus.

That is my guess as well.  He knows his time in F1 is limited and wants a chance to win again and doesn't think MB will get back there in time for him.

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21 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Piastri to MB, Saenz back to McLAren.

Bet MB waits to see what they have in that 17 y/o Antonelli before making any decisions

also Piastri is under contract until the end of 2026 i think?

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